May 30, 2003
For Immediate Release
Contact: Kathie Eastman (503) 231-2300/(503)231-6995
** MEDIA ADVISORY **
ARE THERE BOMBS BURIED IN YOUR BACKYARD?
Lawmakers Unveil DOD Unexploded Ordnance Inventory List
Washington, DC - Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) will join
Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) and Congressmen Sam Farr
(D-Calif.), as well as Aimée Houghton from the Center for Public
Environmental Oversight to announce the release of the inventory of
former Department of Defense (DoD) sites nationwide with known or
suspected unexploded ordnance (UXO). UXO is the explosive waste left
behind on defense sites. Millions of acres of land and internal
waterways are contaminated with UXO. Sites containing UXO exist in
every state an nearly every Congressional district. These sites, which
include bombing ranges and testing facilities, were once located in
underpopulated areas. However, these sites are now close to housing
developments, schools or within parks and other public lands. In the
Washington, DC area for example, the Spring Valley neighborhood was used
by the military for testing of chemical weapons from 1917-1919. In a
tragic example, two young boys were killed near the San Diego
subdivision of Tierrasanta in 1983 when UXO they discovered exploded.
In 2001, Blumenauer introduced legislation that was included in the
Fiscal Year 2002 Department of Defense Authorization bill requiring DoD
to make public an inventory of lands littered with unexploded
munitions. The inventory, to be released next week, will for the first
time give the public accurate information about where these sites are
located and rank the sites by environmental and public health hazard. In
the wake of the administration's request to exempt the DoD from
environmental laws, the inventory illustrates just how much of a toxic
legacy already exists.
WHAT:
Unexploded Ordnance Inventory Release
WHERE:
Cannon Terrace Location
Capitol Hill
Rain Location: 122 Cannon
House Office Building
WHEN:
10:00 a.m. Tuesday, June 3rd
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